The US Marine Corps is expected to award a $6 million contract to Sikorsky Aircraft to demonstrate the improved Cypher II unmanned air vehicle (UAV), say industry officials. The USMC is also considering turning an existing tactical UAV into a "surrogate close air support platform".
Col Gary Anderson, chief of staff of the USMC Warfighting Laboratory, says the service will conduct an experiment using tactical reconnaissance UAVs in an urban environment where line-of-sight control can be obstructed by buildings.
The demonstration follows the competition for a close-range vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV with a shrouded rotor system, a 50km (27nm) range, 16kg (25lb) sensor payload, and 2h endurance.
With final contract negotiations still under way, Anderson will not identify the supplier of the UAV, but industry officials say Sikorsky will provide two all-composite Cypher II prototypes.
The VTOL UAV will fly twice as fast as the 111km/h (60kt) speed of the Cypher I and to 228km, compared with the Cypher I's 56km.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Drone rail-launched, fixed-wing UAV - a much improved BAI Aerosystems BQM-147A Exdrone - could be tested by the USMC as an anti-armour weapons platform.
"We are looking at the potential of creating an armed UAV that would do tank and vehicle killing work," says Anderson.
Source: Flight International